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The Blue Eye spring – Syri I Kalter in Albanian – is part of a protected nature area called the Blue Eye National Monument. During the Communist era, the Blue Eye spring and its surrounding scenery were out of bounds to ordinary people and reserved for only party politicians. The park around the Blue Eye includes a […]

Early in the morning, before the tourist crowds arrive and when the rocks are still tinged in the yellow dawn light, you might just imagine that the ancient walls of Butrint are whispering secrets to you of long-past lives. Easily the most romantic and beautiful – not to mention largest – of Albania’s ancient sites, […]

Between Dhërmi and Vuno is the turn-off for this little-known gem, a gorgeous stretch of isolated white sand and rock backed by big cliffs – and as yet almost entirely undeveloped. Turn off the main road for the Monastery of St Theodor and follow signs for the one-hour (3.5km) hike down to the beach. By […]

Gjirokastra’s eerie hilltop castle is one of the biggest in the Balkans. There’s been a fortress here since the 12th century, although much of what can be seen today dates to the early 19th century. The castle remains somewhat infamous due to its use as a prison under the communists. Inside there’s a collection of […]

The largest museum in Albania holds many of the country’s archaeological treasures and a replica of Skanderbeg’s massive sword (how he held it, rode his horse and fought at the same time is a mystery). The lighting might be poor, but fortunately the excellent collection is almost entirely signed in English and takes you chronologically […]

The Onufri Museum is situated in the Kala quarter’s biggest church, the Church of the Dormition of St Mary (Kisha Fjetja e Shën Mërisë). The church itself dates from 1797 and was built on the foundations of an earlier 10th-century chapel. Today Onufri’s spectacular 16th-century religious paintings are displayed along with the church’s beautifully gilded 19th-century iconostasis. […]

With spectacular views over the city and Lake Shkodra, the Rozafa Fortress is the most impressive sight in town. Founded by the Illyrians in antiquity and rebuilt much later by the Venetians and then the Turks, the fortress takes its name from a woman who was allegedly walled into the ramparts as an offering to […]

Names don’t come much more evocative than the ‘Accursed Mountains’ (Bjeshkët e Namuna; also known as the Albanian Alps), but the dramatic peaks of northern Albania truly live up to the wonder in their name. Offering some of the country’s most impressive scenery, and easily its finest hiking, the mountains spread over the borders of […]

The evocative ruins of the ancient Illyiran city of Apollonia sit on a windswept hilltop some 12km west of the city of Fier. While a large part of the ruins remains buried under the ground, what has been excavated within the 4km of city walls is pure poetry. The highlights include the theatre and the […]